Introduction
Everyone talks about heart health but few know exactly which strategies to incorporate to set up their heart-health for long term success. Let's start with some statistics. The heart beats over 100,000 times a day pumping 5 litres of blood per minute. That's a staggering 7000 litres of blood being moved around your body every day. This is an organ that deserves your undivided attention when it comes to preventive care.
Now let's discuss how things can go wrong. Most heart attacks and strokes don’t come out of nowhere - risk factors develop silently over years, often a decade or more, before the first symptom appears. The encouraging truth is that up to 80% of cardiovascular events are linked to modifiable factors, this means that if you take action you can drastically reduce your risk. At Emerald, we believe that heart disease isn't an inevitability of ageing; it is a process that can be identified and intercepted long before it reaches a crisis point.
Know Your Numbers
Tracking specific biomarkers from your twenties onwards is the most reliable way to detect heart risk. These measurements reveal the "silent phase" of disease—the microscopic changes happening inside your blood vessels years before you feel a single twinge of discomfort.
Blood Pressure: Consistent readings above 135/85 mmHg indicate hypertension. This pressure silently fatigues artery walls, yet many feel perfectly healthy until a major event occurs. Get your blood pressure measured to understnad your baseline
Cholesterol Profile: This looks at fat buildup in your blood which is an early warning sign there may be 'furring' of the blood vessel walls. While LDL (the "bad" kind) and HDL "good" cholesterol tests are common, some preventive health checks include Triglycerides and ApoB to understand the actual density of particles circulating in your bloodstream, your genetic predispositions and much more.
Metabolic Markers: Fasting glucose and HbA1c serve as early warning signals. Even mildly elevated blood sugar damages vessel walls over time, significantly increasing the likelihood of heart failure.
We recommend everyone get the above 3 tests as a minimum to understand their heart health today and set out a plan for tomorrow. You can get all the above tested and more using the Emerald comprehensive health assessment, available at 50+ clinics nationwide.
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Can a scan help assess my heart health?
Yes and no. For some, a scan such as a Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) score can be a game-changer. It reclassifies your risk, helping doctors decide whether preventive medications like statins are a necessary clinical backstop or if lifestyle optimisation remains the primary focus.
It does have drawbacks, however. Specifically, the scanner is blind to "soft" (non-calcified) plaque. This is the early-stage, fatty buildup that hasn’t yet mineralised. Because soft plaque is more unstable and prone to rupture than hardened calcium, a score of zero—while highly reassuring—isn't an absolute guarantee of a clean bill of health, particularly in younger patients.
Despite this, the CAC score is an invaluable "tie-breaker" for those in the intermediate-risk category. It is particularly effective for:
Borderline Cases: If your cholesterol is slightly elevated but your lifestyle is excellent, a CAC score reveals whether your arteries are actually being impacted.
Positive Family History: If heart disease runs in your family, this test identifies if you have inherited a "fast-forward" button on arterial ageing.
Decisions on Statins: For those hesitant about medication, seeing a physical measurement of plaque provides the objective evidence needed to move from guesswork to a confident clinical strategy.
The Emerald Perspective
Discovering risk is only half the battle. At Emerald, our thesis is simple: "Preventive medicine is easy; behavioural change is incredibly hard". Knowing you should exercise more is common sense, but actually doing it amidst a busy life is where strategy is required. This is where we come in. We offer a preventive health service delivered through an app and staffed by our team of excellent doctors to guide you towards a healthier life.
We bridge this gap through a tiered intervention ladder:
Wearables Monitoring: We use wearables to track your activity and recovery. This isn't data for data’s sake; it’s a real-time pulse on your cardiovascular health, exercise volume, sleep quality and much more.
Health Coaching: Our coaches help you implement sustainable patterns, such as the Mediterranean or DASH diets. We aim for measurable wins, such as treating those with pre-diabetes through diet and lifestyle changes and setting strict targets for biomarkers to hit.
Clinical Backstops: If lifestyle markers aren't moving the needle, our CQC-registered GPs provide prescriptions and specialist referrals to ensure your risk is mitigated pharmacologically while you work on the foundations.
The Emerald Perspective: We don't want to over-investigate "noise" that has no clinical significance. By anchoring your health journey in periodic, high-quality data and professional coaching, we replace "unknown worry" with a clear, actionable strategy.
Longevity starts with awareness
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Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore
While we focus on the silent phase, you must remain literate in your body's real-life clues. Subtle symptoms can be early signs of a heart struggling to maintain circulation:
Atypical Discomfort: Tightness or jaw pain, particularly in women or those with diabetes, rather than the classic "clutching-at-chest" scenario.
Reduced Tolerance: Finding usual distances or stairs suddenly harder, or experiencing unexplained fatigue.
Fluid Retention: Swelling in the ankles or waking up short of breath can be early signs of heart failure.
Erectile Dysfunction: In men, unexplained new erectile dysfunction, especially in those over 40 should be thoroughly investigated as this can be an early sign of blood vessel damage which can also affect the heart
If you have a family history—a first-degree relative with a heart attack before 55 (men) or 65 (women)—your genetic background means your health approach needs even closer management.
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